THE PROMPTER.
It will do for the present.
This common saying does as much mischief in society, as rum or a pestilence. If I hear a man, whether a farmer, a mechanic, or any other person, often repeat that saying, and appear to act from the opinion, that it will do for the present, I rely on it he is a sloven, a drone, or something worse. I never knew such a man thrive.
A young man setting out in life, is in haste to be married. He wants a house to live in, but is not fully able to build one. Yet his pride requires a large showy house. At last, between poverty and pride, he determines to build a large house, but not to finish it till he is more able. He sets up a large two story house, with four rooms in a story—he covers it and paints it: this is a showy house—his pride exults to see passengers stare at his elegant house: but though pride governs the outside, poverty reigns within—he can finish but two rooms, half finish one or two more—and lay a loose floor above, to spread his corn upon: this elegant mansion house then is a granary—a corn house: the man and a litter of children below—and rats and mice above: but the man says, it will do for the present. True, but the man has but twenty or thirty acres of land, or an indifferent trade—his family grows faster than his income—he is not able to finish his house—the covering soon decays and admits water—the house falls to pieces—the man is forced poor into the wilderness, or he and his children loiter about, dependant on the neighbours for subsistence by day labour.
I know one of these do-for-the-present-farmers, who never effectually repairs his fences; but when a breach is made, he fills it with a bush that a sheep may remove: if a rail is broke, and another is not at hand, he takes the next billet of wood, inserts one end into the post, and ties up the other with elm or hickory bark—he says, this will do for the present. His cattle learn to be unruly—to remedy the evil, fetters, shackles, clogs, yokes, and what he calls pokes, are invented—and his cattle and horses are doomed to hobble about their pasture with a hundred weight of wood or iron machines upon their feet and necks. The man himself, in two years, spends time enough in patching up his fences and making fetters, to make a good effectual fence round his whole farm, which would want very little repair in twenty years.
In family affairs, these do-for-the-present folks double their necessary labour. They labour hard to put things out of order, and then it requires nearly the same work to put them into order again. A man uses an axe, a hoe, a spade, and throws it down where he uses it; instead of putting it in its proper place, under cover. Exposed to the weather, tools do not last more than half so long, as when kept housed; but this is not all: a sloven leaves the tool where he last used it—or throws it down any where at random: in a few days he wants it again—he has forgot where he left it—he goes to look for it—he spends perhaps half an hour in search of it, or walks a distance to get it: this time is lost, for it breaks in upon some other business—the loss of this small portion of time appears trifling; but slovens and sluts incur such losses every day; and the loss of these little scraps of time determine a man's fortune. Let the Prompter make a little calculation: a farmer, whose family expends one hundred pounds a year, if he can clear ten pounds a year is a thriving man. In order to get his one hundred and ten pounds, suppose he labours ten hours a day: in this case, if he loses an hour every day, in repairing the carelessness of the day before (and every sloven and slut loses more time than this, every day, for want of care and order) he loses a tenth part of his time—a tenth part of his income—this is eleven pounds. Such a man cannot thrive—he must grow poorer, for want of care, of order, of method.
So it is with a woman. A neat woman who does business thoroughly, keeps things in order, with about half the labour that a slut employs who keeps things for ever out of order. If a pail or kettle be used, it is directly made clean, fit for other uses, and put in its place. When it is wanted, it is ready. But a slut uses an article and leaves it any where, dirty, unfit for use another time: by and by it is wanted, and cannot be found—"Moll, where did you leave the kettle?" "I han't had the kettle, Nab had it last"—"Nab, did you have the kettle?" "Yes, but it is dirty." So the kettle is found, but it is a half hour's work to fit it for the purpose required; in the mean time, the necessary business must lie by. Yet this woman says, when she does any thing, it will do for the present.
I have only to add, that I went to church, on a late cold Sunday, when a neighbouring clergyman officiated. He had spoken to his fifteenthly, when the clock struck one. Every man was shivering with the cold, and shuffling his feet—the parson took the hint, and broke off with "this will do for the present."